Greeley council backs resolution on seat-belt law

Greeley elected officials hope their counterparts at the state level will make sure Coloradans fasten their seat belts.

City council members and law enforcement officers are trying to find ways to prevent more traffic deaths in Weld County. So far this year, 91 people have died in traffic accidents, well over the county’s previous record. At the same time last year, 56 people had died.

Rather than Greeley passing its own seat-belt law, the city council has decided it will ask state legislators to pass a statewide primary seat-belt law. The resolution says “Greeley supports the concept of a statewide primary seat-belt law.”

Council will consider the resolution at its next meeting, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Greeley Police Chief Paul Branham said he’ll ask other Weld municipalities to consider similar resolutions to help send a message to the state. Some cities and towns have already expressed interest, he said.

Colorado Rep.-elect Jim Riesberg of Greeley has agreed to co-sponsor a primary seat-belt law when the state legislature begins its new session in January, Branham said. Branham wants to send a busload of supporters at the state Capitol in Denver to show support for the bill when it is assigned to a committee.

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Colorado has a secondary seat-belt law, meaning police can do nothing about seat-belt scofflaws unless there’s another reason to pull them over. A primary law means you can be pulled over simply for not wearing a seat belt.

Branham reiterated Wednesday that a primary seat-belt law is a necessary, simple way to reduce traffic deaths.

“If you don’t have that (law), people are dying,” he said. “There are so many

mothers and so many fathers and so many kids and so many people left without mothers and fathers and kids. It’s a clear choice.”

Four years ago, Greeley voters quashed a primary seat-belt measure after the city council initially approved it. Dissenters said they should be free to not wear seat belts. Others feared profiling of the area’s large Latino population.

Branham rebutted those arguments, citing federal studies that show greater seat-belt use in states with primary seat-belt laws. People who want freedom from government don’t have a solid argument against enforcement on seat belts, he said, because they’re already required by law. You just can’t be pulled over in Colorado simply for not wearing one.

Ethnic profiling will not be an issue, either, he promised.

“We have very few complaints of racial profiling against our police department,” he said. “To have this law in effect is not going to increase those complaints.”

A second public meeting with area elected officials and law enforcement to discuss a seat-belt law was scheduled after Wednesday’s meeting was canceled when several people couldn’t make it. The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the city council chambers, 919 7th St., Greeley.